This unit came back from one of our more tech-adventurous end-users. He had been complaining about his cd-rom, that it would no longer open, and he was unable to play the disc that was inside. He said he tried to fix it, but was unsuccessful. We had to practically pry the case open because it had been forced shut. Apparently, the side panel didn't fit right for some reason after the re-installation of the optical drive.

It was a good laugh for our Friday, so I thought we should pass it along...

You have to admit that took a bit of engineering as at least on our Dell Optiplex GX 620's (Looks very similar so I am thinking that is what it is ... at least in that series) it seems to take a lot of work to actually get that CD drive in upside down with the install bracket they have-at least to fit flush...

What I have does her is just put simple blast plastic wire ties on that back 'lock' and it seems to keep the average person out...But from your description this sounds like a 'special' person so that may not have done it.